On-Camera Light Question « Videomaker Community Forums

compusolver
Member

This was posted to me in Private Messages, so I copied to this thread..

I am a newbie... and I'm looking for a better light for my sony pd170....I am looking at the bescor 50 watt dimmer light....

The problem is I video dancehall/club events...and these events are dark mostly poor lighting.... I will be videoing aproximately 3 to 4 hours. (2am to 5am or 6am). I am a small framed guy....I weight about 130lbs...lol.... I don't know if I should get belt/waist type battery or the shoulder bag battery. Also....I was told that if I use the dimmer light I will loose color temperature. I know 50 watts will probbaly be too much at certain situations...but I would like to have it just in case. I'm estimating using the light at 20 watts most of the night. I was told the belt battery pack will last me 2 hours constantly at 50 watts...so I'm assuming I will get 4 hours using it constantly at 20 watts. My question is what battery pack do you use...??? I saw in one of your post that the battery pack is heavy and you use a small back pack. Do you think I will be ok with the regular 2 hour battery belt pack ? or do I need to get the 5 hour belt pack (which I hear is about 20 lbs....(remember I'm only about 130lbs...lol)

any advice you can give me is greatly appreci-loved.... do you have color issue problems when you use the dimmer ?

I use a Bescor 50-watt on-cam light with barn doors - not with a dimmer. The barn doors can be adjusted to limit the amount of light, but of course this has no impact on battery usage. I didn't get any kind of battery holder when I bought my light kit - none was offered. I use a small backpack to carry the battery and I probably don't give it over an hour's use at the few receptions where I have to use it. Often, it's just the dance area and most times even the dance floor has enough light for our VX2100s.

I would advise a belt pack, because it's generally easier to handle weight on your hips than on your shoulders and back. I'd also advise five-mile runs and pumping iron! X-D

If you're shooting with the dance clubs approval, why not talk with them about compromising on their lighting techniques a little? Your PD170 doesn't need much light, but perhaps just a bit more than currently available. By adding an extra light, or turning their dimmer switch up a notch or two, they may be able to help you avoid needing extra lighting. After all, it would be easier on the dancers to have the house lights a few lumens brighter than having a bright light shone in their eyes.

Posted 5 years ago #
REGGAE UNPLUGGED
Member

thanks for your help!

Posted 5 years ago #
paulears
Member

I think getting the venue to raise the ambient light is a no hope - in most cases, the general light, even if adjustable is just not very bright - to make a difference you have to up the light quite a bit - the dedicated production lighting is very bright where it it, but very dark where it isn't, making contrsat a real problem. if these lights hit the lens, then auto iris darkens the picture even more. Manual iris will help quite a lot, but you'll have to be very careful with framing, to keep sharp, bright high lights to a minimum. On camera lights are very unflattering - the new led rings are a lot better, battery life is great, but output isn't so high as to become a torch.

Colour balance with tungsten on camera lamps isn't a problem in a club as there are no natural colours. Just make sure you white balance to the camera light, whatever type it is. The main downside is mood - the bright light frightens away the shy people and encourages outrageous behaviour from the drunk ones - so a minder is pretty vital.

I'd concur that battery belts are much more comfortable.

Posted 5 years ago #
compusolver
Member

to make a difference you have to up the light quite a bit

Not with VX2100/PD170 cameras - they really don't require much light. I've shot in a C&W club where they had the ability to adjust the lighting to the n'th degree, but their normal dance floor lighting was more than enough for our VX2100s.

Same with square dancing clubs. Your average night club is probably a lot darker, but I've shot many receptions where the dance floor was too dark. In half the situations, the venue was able to bring the lighting up just a little bit - enough for our VX2100s. In the other half, we either turned on the Bescor and had all three cameras shoot from the same (more or less) angle of the one with the light or we went to 1/30th shutter speed.

I agree that color balance isn't a big worry. You're not likely to have a light that will match those of a night club, but between your camera's ability to adjust to mixed lighting conditions and your ability to adjust in post, you'll be fine - at least we do well with the Sonys.

With the VX2100s (at least, with our models), you'll get a full stop extra (combining gain and iris) with auto exposure than you will on manual exposure. I don't know why, but you do. Of course, to take advantage of this you have to be very careful of influences from non-subjects.

Posted 5 years ago #